Witness: Killings Negotiated Private Eye Says Pair Haggled Over Price

June 3, 1988|By LARRY KELLER, Staff Writer

It wasn`t exactly your typical contract murder. Not only would the hit man kill, mutilate and photograph three people for less than the cost of a home computer, he would even accept payment on an installment plan.

That was the deal that Dr. Saud Tarawneh and his wife, Ghada, agreed to in February, witnesses testified on Thursday in the couple`s trial on charges of solicitation and conspiracy to commit murder.

The man who acted as the go-between in the purported murder-for-hire scheme, Fort Lauderdale private eye Ronald Petrillo, didn`t really know a contract killer, as he told the Tarawnehs, but was in fact secretly tape-recording his conversations with the couple for the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

Now the Tarawnehs are on trial in Broward Circuit Court, charged with attempting to have their son-in-law, Mouataz Abdulsamad, his sister and his mother murdered and mutilated.

The state contends that the Toledo, Ohio, couple sought an assassin to avenge their daughter`s elopement and restore their family honor. Saud Tarawneh is from Jordan, his wife from Syria. Both are U.S. citizens.

Saud Tarawneh`s legal problems do not end there. On Thursday, an Ohio real estate limited partnership filed suit in the Broward court seeking to recover more than $17,000 it says he owes it.

Petrillo described on Thursday how he originally told Saud Tarawneh that the killing of Abdulsamad -- who was living with their daughter in Tamarac at the time -- would cost him $5,000 to $6,000. When Saud Tarawneh balked at the price, Petrillo said, he suggested a figure of $4,500.

Saud Tarawneh said that also was too high a price, and made a counter offer of $2,500, Petrillo testified. He said an agreement was made that the Tarawnehs would pay $500 down and the $2,000 balance over eight months.

The Tarawnehs then asked that Abdulsamad`s sister and mother be included in the murder contract at no extra charge, Petrillo said. They also wanted the sexual organs of two victims and the tongue of another, and all three victims photographed, he said.

The lead FDLE agent on the case, Michael Breece, testified that the amount of the contract was ``ridiculously low.`` But he said FDLE had Petrillo agree to the purported deal out of fear that the Tarawnehs might find somebody else to carry out the executions.

Petrillo said that when he eventually telephoned Saud Tarawneh in Toledo to say that two of the killings had been accomplished, Tarawneh asked him to front the $500 down payment for him.

Petrillo`s testimony will continue today. The jury also will hear nine secretly tape recorded conversations between Petrillo and the Tarawnehs.